Centre asks poll-bound states to ramp up Covid-19 testing, vaccination; EC reviews situation

EC sources said that the poll panel had not yet taken any decision on postponing the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh or the four other poll-bound states

The Centre on Monday asked the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur to ramp up vaccination and exponentially increase testing in order to contain the Covid-19 pandemic and avert a surge in infections during the forthcoming assembly polls in the five states.

The Election Commission too reviewed the Covid-19 situation in the five poll-bound states amid speculation that the Omicron variant might trigger a third wave of the pandemic.

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan briefed the Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and the two other Election Commissioners, Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, on the Covid-19 situation in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, where assembly polls would take place in February-March next year.

Bhushan also had a separate meeting with the top government officials of Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Punjab and reviewed the public health response measures for containment and management of the Covid-19 in the five poll-bound states. He also reviewed the status of vaccination in the states.

While Uttarakhand and Goa reported vaccination coverage for the first and second doses higher than the national average, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur have Covid-19 vaccination coverage numbers below the national average, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

Read | Five state assembly polls unlikely to be postponed

The Centre and the Election Commission reviewed the Covid-19 situation in the poll-bound states just days after the Allahabad High Court asked the poll panel to consider postponing the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh as the third wave of the pandemic was “knocking at the door”. Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav of the Allahabad High Court observed on December 23 that the election rallies of the political parties should be banned to check the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The EC sources, however, said that the poll panel had not yet taken any decision on postponing the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh or any of the four other poll-bound states. Chandra, Kumar and Pandey would visit Lucknow on Tuesday and meet the senior officials of the state government to review the Covid-19 situation and preparation for the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, sources in New Delhi said.

The MoHFW advised the governments of the five states to speedily ramp up the Covid-9 vaccination of all eligible populations for the first dose and ensure that those who were due for the second dose were administered the second dose. The poll-bound states were also advised to exponentially increase the testing to identify infected people promptly for timely initiation of public health response measures, according to the MoHFW press release.

Uttar Pradesh currently has 323 active Covid-19 cases after a rise of 41 cases over the past 24 hours, according to the data released by the union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday. Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur have 378, 231, 449 and 182 active cases respectively. The number of active cases in fact went down in Uttarakhand and Goa, while it remained the same as the previous 24 hours in Manipur. Punjab, however, witnessed a rise of 31 active Covid-19 cases. The nationwide active Covid-19 cases stood at 75,841 according to the data released by the Union Government at 8:00 am on Monday.

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